Bedfordshire Triathlon, 30 May 2021

I made a last minute decision to enter the Bedfordshire Sprint Triathlon which was last Sunday. I knew a few of my friends were racing and it was run by one of my sponsors Active Training World, so decided it would be a nice friendly race to have a go at. Another early start but this time it was freezing! Despite the warm weather finally arriving, that morning was cold and foggy.

Once again we started the swim with a few seconds between each person and I started near the front. I found my arms this time and had a much better swim than at Eton. I got out of the water very close to the leader of the race and onto the bike in 3rd place so knew people would soon start passing me. To my amazement only a handful of TT bikes came flying past. The hilly course was enjoyable apart from being frozen cold (I need to invest in a suit with sleeves).

Off the bike and onto the run. 5km around the trails near the lake was enjoyable and I felt the strongest I have running since my hip fracture, which was reflected in my run time of 22mins40. This is the fastest I’ve run 5km in 3 years 🥳 I finished 5th female and 3rd in my age group. Overall I was just happy to see friends again and complete a strong race.

Having raced twice in a few weeks and with working being so hectic I’m glad to have some time training again. My focus moving forward is going to be on getting some more speed back, so will be doing some track races before another sprint triathlon.

Frankie Durbin